Fiddleheads outing to Arroyo Park 10-25-15

Our last outing of the fall took us to Arroyo Park.  The weather was cool but all the Fiddleheads came prepared for a fun exploring day.  After some rearranging of clothing, a quick trash pick up (thanks to the group for living the motto You See It, You Own It), and our morning check-in circle, we headed down the trail towards the creek.

We did not get far before the girls were playing and exploring along the creek's edge, and sometimes in the creek itself. We talked about Safety First as our most important motto, acknowledging that when our weather gets colder, our body needs to work harder. When we play in the creek, there is a known risk for getting ourselves wet. We tried our hardest to stay dry... but as we know, it's so tough to do so when Explorer's fever takes over. Our Fiddleheads are working on their GEC mottos, and we will only continue this as the group moves forward into future seasons.

We also discovered some cool things along the way.... Mushrooms and other fungi littered the ground, nurse logs, and trees that we passed. We started counting the number of types of fungus we saw, but we found so many that we lost track! We also met nature's sweet treat, Licorice Fern. Mentors helped explain how we harvest this plant (ask your daughter about the 1 in 20 Principle) and passed out some root for the girls to taste. Many girls loved it, others spat it out with a "yuck!". To each their own. :)

There's a fungus among us...!

The girls made a collaborative decision to check out the "magic tree."  Ask your daughter to take you there and find out why we think this tree is so special.  We had seen a boys explorers club group pass us while we were exploring by the creek.  We thought is might be fun to put our fox feet on and try sneaking up on the boys.  We could hear them playing high above the magic tree...so we did our best sneaking, crawling our way along the trail, and slowly crossing the tree...

But we were not sneaky enough! The boys heard us coming. Thankfully, we all decided together that a big group game of Spiders Web would be fun.  Dorothy, one of our Fiddleheads, was elected the spider and for nearly 45 minutes no one could get past her and her keen observation skills. The girls worked together with the Short Tailed Weasels to finally finish the game, allowing the bugs to win! This is a tested and true favorite game of GEC, and this was an extra-awesome way to introduce this game to the Fiddleheads.

Dorothy, our super-scary spider

After finishing the game, the girls headed back down the magic tree to enjoy a Peaceful Place by the rushing arroyo ("creek" in Spanish). The girls sat silently and still, writing in their journals, splashing in the water, building towers from rocks, and tossing leaves. We joined together for our Web of Life activity, which we do to culminate every season of Girls Explorers Club. The girls reviewed our four fall outings together, and reminisced about what we connected to in nature during these outings. The girls connected to birds, rocks, ferns and so much more. We reminded the girls that We Are All Teachers - Can 7 or 8 year olds be teachers to adults? You bet! As explorers with nature knowledge, we have a responsibility to Walk Our Talk in the community, and help nature thrive as we'd like it to. We rounded out our day with a quick walk back, and some final gratitude for this group. What a great season we've had together! Looking forward to more with the Fiddleheads. Our Words of the Day: "Happy Arroyo Web Day!"

Mottos especially in use today:

*Safety First

*Walk Your Talk

*We Are All Teachers

*You See It, You Own It

To see more photos of our day, head over to our photo album!

-Hannah and Rebecca

Fiddleheads Service at Connelly Creek (BEC site) 10/3/15

This tall gentleman is Steve Keller. He serves Wild Whatcom as the Program Coordinator and mentor for the Boys Explorers Club. Our day in service today was spent on land that has received over 3000 hours of service in the boy's hands before us. It's a special site that the BEC adopted nearly 3 years ago, supported by the City of Bellingham's Greenways Coordinator, Rae Edwards. Here's the link to see how they've transformed this area over time, deepening relationships to the land and reclaiming habitat for other species. There are now salmon coming back to this creek! Progress as a result of some very hard work, yay.

This outing was an excellent reflection of the Explorers Club mottos: Collaborate & Compromise, Stretch Your Edge and Widen Your Circle, as both Girls and Boys were going to be present and work together as a habitat team today. A few girls LIBK'd their unfamiliarity with boys, and were reassured that boys are people too (like dads). : )

Steve welcomed us to this site along Connelly Creek and gave us an in depth tour of the land. He showed us the progress the boys have made and shared the many learning opportunities that happened along the way. We learned from Steve which plants grow best in sunshine, which in shade. A big lesson was to dig up those blackberry roots, folks. It's the only way to get them out of there for real. After discussing whether invasive plants are "good" or "bad", we decided that they're in the wrong place and they take over. "Bully" plants? After an effective tool demo, we were all set to move mountains of mulch and reclaim this area for salmon.

Memorable moments of the day:

• A team of Tree Tenders mulched baby trees that the BEC planted a season or so ago. Lots of Reed Canary grass pulling and huge buckets of mulch redistributed in this role. We constructed stick cages around these babies to support and protect their growth. Grow trees, grow! 

• Hordes of girls attacked Blackberry Town with vigor. A few Fiddleheads really took this job seriously, working with persistence and commitment to making the area a better place for salmon. Blackberry removal is difficult and strenuous work, and some of these girls took it as a personal challenge to Stretch their Edge and weather the pokes and scratches. Their preparedness (rainpants on) was an asset to them today!

• The "Rootball Hall of Fame". Seriously, there were some MONSTER root balls placed in a tree for admiration. We were constantly amazed at the size and gnarly shapes of the roots of Himalayan Blackberry. No wonder they are so successful.

• Snacks happen. Physical work requires that you have gas in your engine. The Girls LIBK'd their snack and hydration needs and took breaks.

• Working with these boys was inspiring! We widened our circle when the boys joined us after a couple hours, reinvigorating our team with their physical energy. The job brought these groups together and they worked alongside and together to serve this land. Nice collaboration, folks!

• How many rounds of Decomposition Tag can a group of tired girls play? Ask your daughter, this mentor thinks we did at least two invigorating rounds. Hint: These girls love to play. 

• Great words of gratitude. Thanks to our sturdy and kind EMA, Lily for her coyote leadership and positive attitude all day today.

Words of the day: Root ball blackberry mulching at Connelly Creek!”

Link to our photo album of the day.

Outing to Clayton Beach 9-18-15

Hello, Fiddleheads families!

We are trying a new format for sharing reports and photos from Girls Explorers Club (GEC) outings. Each day will be featured in a blog post (like this one) with a link to the day's pictures. Your feedback is welcome as we test out this new system!

Fiddleheads

What a fun-filled day we had exploring with your wonderful daughters! It was a day of connection, laughter, adventure, and discovery. After the day was through, Laura and I commented on how kind and enthusiastic these gals are! The girls were quick to lend a helping hand, they Widened Their Circle and met new friends, and they explored nature with open eyes and open hearts. As we dove deeper into our first adventure as the Fiddleheads, the group melded together as old friends reunited and new friendships began to blossom. We had the thought that some of these girls might explore nature and life's journey together for years to come; how amazing to think that some of these girls might stay together up to and throughout their middle school years, forming a strong and beautiful sisterhood that will help support them as they continue to grow into adulthood.

Explorers' Club has several mottos that we'll be referring to frequently.  One we introduced, Sunday, is It's About the Journey, Not the Destination. We move slowly, discovering our surroundings and ourselves as we travel. Thus, sometimes it takes awhile to "get" to where we're "going" (wherever we are is where we're going!). For example, our day began at 9:30. We arrived at the beach at 12:30! We took some time to get to know each other, learning each other's names (and nicknames!), and a little about who we are and what we like to do. Along the way to the beach, we looked in awe at the fallen branches from the big August wind storm. Nature truly is an amazing and powerful thing! The girls were introduced to forest bathroom etiquette, many chose to Stretch Their Edge by climbing up the Dragon's Spine Trail, and they all practiced Collaborate and Compromise, making decisions as a group about which direction they'd like to go.

Dragon's Spine Trail

On the beach, we scrambled over sandstone, discovered the intertidal zone and all the crabs, limpets, and sea anemones living within; found charcoal and drew nature pictures, collected sea glass, and enjoyed quiet time in our Peaceful Places, observing nature and connecting to the sand, waves, and wind that surrounded us. 

Clayton Beach

Other Explorers' Club mottos were woven throughout the day (such as: Be Prepared, Safety First, S.T.O.P, We're All Teachers, Attitude of Gratitude, LIBK-Let It Be Known, Always Meet Before You Eat). We just touched on our mottos yesterday - over time in EC they get fleshed out, deepened, and added to by others. We also just tasted some EC core routines, like opening and closing meeting, collaborative decision making, Peaceful Place time, naturalist knowledge, and circle of thanks. Another EC core routine, collaboratively deciding upon our Words of The Day, yielded this spot-on description from the girls: "Rocky sand, meeting friends"

That was an overview of our day, but there was much more. I invite you to check out the full photo album with your daughter, and she can fill in the rest.

Thank you for this opportunity to explore with your girls - It is an honor!

- Hannah & Laura

Service w/ Greenways @ Whatcom Creek 9-19-15

Under a grey misting blanket of clouds, the brave (and slightly sleepy) Fiddleheads came together with the Salish Seals on a Saturday morning to serve, learn, play, and connect at the Bellingham library. As girls gathered at Lee Memorial Park (behind the library), we played a couple rousing games of Head Butt Tag and Your Biggest Fan to get our blood circulating and warm our spirits for our task ahead.

At our check-in, we moved our bodies according to how we were feeling this particular morning, and there was lots of stretching, for sure! This image of stretching extends into Stretching Your Edge, a EC motto sure to apply over the course of the season, and the years ahead. These mottos serve as a reference to the culture of respect and growth we are continually fostering here during our outings. Other mottos explored by these girls were Widen the Circle, Walk Your Talk and Our Cups Overflow. Test your daughter's memory by asking her what these mean, and maybe even ask her to show you a demo of Our Cups Overflow! (All of our mottos can be found on our website: http://wildwhatcom.org/mottos/)

We talked about the importance of serving in a community, and came together with the Fiddleheads for the Our Cups overflow activity. We widened our circles by playing a couple of bonding games (Loggers Handshake and People to People) with these new friends! Energy was high and we were all warmed up and ready to tackle our service project en force. We walked over to City Hall and were greeted by the friendly staff at Greenways. The FIddleheads were excited to learn that we would be helping an "island," a lovely cluster of plants in the middle of a concrete walking path. Rae, the knowledgeable and welcoming leader from Greenways, led us over to the island and taught us about the overgrown plants we'd be removing to make the area more beautiful AND more safe for everyone who walks by: Bindweed (or Morning Glory) and dead fern fronds. Greenways crew provided us with many tips to keep our Safety First, including wearing gloves and carrying and using tools safely.

These Fiddleheads went to work removing the designated plants, using their hands, clippers and hori hori tools to clean up the island. While working we Widened the Circle by partnering up with someone we did not know very well. Many of these girls focused their abundant energy on taking down the wild and thorny rose bushes, and a few girls have the war wounds to prove it. Getting poked by the thorns did not slow us down much. We did marvel at the thorn structure and ability to protect this plant. 


After finishing our service, we went to help the Salish Seals clean up their site, only to find that they had been cutting back and collecting rose hips from native rose bushes within their site! Since the Rose hips were so plentiful and ready for harvest, we gathered several pounds of Rose hips for their beauty and their medicine, as Rosehips have a lot of Vitamin C! We hope to turn these hips to tea, and provide a warm drink on a cold outing in the future!

These girls worked with integrity and great focus, and had more fun than they expected for nearly 3 hours in the spitting rain and chill of the day. Despite these conditions, parents may be surprised that there was ZERO complaining. There was a few discussions about who's turn it was to use the clippers, as these were the most useful tool today and in high demand. Waiting when you REALLY want something is a good exercise in practicing patience, right?  We may have discovered that doing good physical work can be fun! After finishing our service project and walking around the island (A Victory Lap) to see the difference we had made, Rae with Greenways came over to thank us for our service and help us haul our load back to City Hall.

We wrapped up this outing by eating lunch together as a large group and returned to the library lawn to hold our closing circle with a round of our Attitude of gratitude in which we give thanks for one thing about our morning. We left just enough room to play Toilet Tag, Turkey Vulture Tag and an excellent game of Snort. 

Our Words of the Day?: "Helping plants and nature survive through service!" For a complete photo album of this service day, click here!

-Hannah